Ecotricity – an overview

Founded back in 1996, when eco-friendly energy was a very new concept, Ecotricity is a company dedicated to producing energy through environmentally friendly forms of power. They claim to be the only company making any real headway in the building of renewable energy sources and back this claim up with the fact that they’ve invested nearly £50 million in wind energy in the last 7 years alone. They supply energy to a number of eco-conscious companies like Lush and The Co-operative Bank and are recommended by both the Soil Association and Oxfam.

Green electricity is sourced from the power of the wind, sun and sea and Ecotricity currently produce a lot of their electricity with ‘Mills’ or generators that they have designed and built themselves. As long as you are connected to the gas and electricity mains in the UK, you can power your home with Ecotricity and they guarantee that they can price match the standard tariffs of the ‘Big 6’ energy companies.

They currently offer two electricity tariffs – New Energy and New Energy Plus – and one gas tariff, known as Green Gas. If you opt for the New Energy tariff you are guaranteed that at least 41% of the electricity you use will be green. This energy is sourced from Ecotricity’s own windmills and comes with a fair price promise which means they will price match the Big 6 for standard electricity in their area. With this in mind if you are thinking about making the switch to greener electricity, it may not cost you anything to do so. The remainder of your electricity on this tariff will be ‘brown’ electricity, which the company purchases from the wholesale market. If you choose the New Energy Plus tariff, on the other hand, then 100% of your electricity will be green – the remainder being purchased from other energy companies. This tariff is about £20 a year more expensive per household as it is topped up with green energy that has to be bought in. This should change in the coming years, however, as more of the UK’s energy is sourced from renewable.

If you’re 100% committed to making your home as green as possible, once you’ve signed up to one of the above electricity tariffs, you can then opt for green gas as well. The company is committed to developing environmentally friendly methods of gas production with future profits, so you can rest assured the money you spend is going straight back into development and research in this area too.